10 Things That Made the Kids Scream, You're Getting Rid of That?!

Part of preparing for the RV trip is downsizing our stuff. We have SO MUCH STUFF. We just had a yard sale to start culling down, and it barely made a dent — our house still feels overflowing. As we were setting things aside for the sale, the kids protested and negotiated for their old toys, old clothes, and a few things we never could have imagined.

Here are 10 things the children claim they MUST keep for the RV trip:

1. Any toy we try to sell, even though it’s been sitting in the toy room gathering dust and hasn’t been played with in months. Strike that — ESPECIALLY the toys that haven’t been played with in months. “I forgot we had this!”

The Little People house that could never fit in the RV? Check.
The giant box of Lego Duplos, even though they only play with regular Legos now? Check
The box of broken Barbies that they don’t even remember exists? Check.

2. Every stuffed animal ever created.

3. A spoon shaped like an ice cream cone. I was cleaning out kitchen items we rarely use, including a small ice cream maker that my daughter received for her birthday one year. The spoon that comes with it is hugely impractical – it’s very difficult to actually eat anything with it. But when the kids saw it in the box of garage sale items, they cried about it like it was made of gold and unicorn horns.

4. A serving platter. I kid you not, when my daughter saw it on the shelf of things to sell at the garage sale, she insisted we needed it. How could we think of selling it?! I don’t think she’s ever paid any attention to what’s in our kitchen cabinets before.

5. Ditto the mise en place tiny glass bowls. “But we might need these!”

6. Broken crayons from the bottom of the crayon box.

7. A standing cheese grater. “This is a SPECIAL cheese grater!”

8. Arts & crafts stamps that never get used… until I try to throw them away.

9. Star Wars pancake molds. We’ve used these exactly once, over 3 years.

10. Ok, this last item was actually from my husband. While the yard sale was happening, he snuck into the DVD box and retrieved several that mysteriously made their way back into the house. (Granted, Star Wars and Blazing Saddles are classics worth preserving.)